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34,239 public-domain books, summarised. Page 50 of 714.
The World Peril of 1910
George Chetwynd Griffith
HOOK As a cosmic catastrophe threatens to shatter the Earth, a brilliant inventor and his treacherous rival race to determine the planet’s fate through air, sea, and outer space.
Socialism: Positive and Negative
Robert Rives La Monte
Socialism is a historical and economic force, not merely a political preference, and its inevitable victory rests upon the scientific understanding of the class struggle.
Ainslee's, Vol. 15, No. 5, June 1905
Various
A turn-of-the-century tapestry captures the friction of arranged marriages, Wall Street panics, high-society theatrics, and small-town grudges. It paints an unvarnished portrait of American ambition and emotional longing in 1905.
An Anarchist Woman
Hutchins Hapgood
A young woman from the margins of Chicago society finds her life irrevocably altered by a charismatic, radical intellectual who introduces her to the dangerous, exhilarating world of anarchism.
Frank of Freedom Hill
Samuel A. (Samuel Arthur) Derieux
HOOK A noble Irish setter finds himself caught between the fierce, instinctive call of the open woods and the crushing, often uncomprehending love of the humans who claim him as their own.
Modern Persia
Mooshie G. Daniel
The land of the Medes and Persians stands revealed through the eyes of a native scholar, offering a rare, firsthand account of a nation bridging the ancient world and the modern era. This narrative serves as both a cultural atlas and a testament to a changing society.
Keats: Poems Published in 1820
John Keats
The beauty of these verses lies in their ability to fix a fleeting, shimmering image of human desire into something as permanent and cold as marble. This collection captures a poet at the height of his powers, wrestling with the painful collision between the perfection of the imagination and the decay of the mortal…
On the Old Road Vol. 1 (of 2): A Collection of Miscellaneous Essays and Articles on Art and Literature
John Ruskin
This collection preserves the restless, searching intellect of a Victorian critic at the height of his powers, tracing the moral and material foundations of Western art through a series of sharp, deeply personal essays.
Holland, v. 1 (of 2)
Edmondo De Amicis
Holland, a nineteenth-century travelogue, captures a nation defined by its defiant struggle against the sea and its quiet, industrious character. It remains a classic for its keen observational power and elegant, evocative prose.
Sally of Missouri
Rose E. (Rose Emmet) Young
A resolute New Yorker arrives in the rugged Ozark wilderness, only to find himself caught between a corrupt local tycoon and the magnetic, idealistic daughter who unknowingly anchors the man’s web of deceit.
Textiles and Clothing
Kate Heintz Watson
A foundational guide to the craft of textiles and garment construction, this manual offers a systematic look at the materials, methods, and aesthetic principles necessary for creating and maintaining a well-ordered wardrobe.
The Elder Eddas of Saemund Sigfusson
Snorri Sturluson
This collection of ancient poems and prose narratives preserves the bedrock of Norse mythology, capturing the tragic grandeur of gods and heroes as they face their inevitable doom.
David and the Phoenix
Edward Ormondroyd
HOOK A boy’s mountain climb leads to a startling encounter with a mythical Phoenix, sparking a fantastical journey filled with magical creatures, daring escapes, and a quest for knowledge beyond the ordinary.
Possessed
Cleveland Moffett
The story of a woman haunted by a divided self, this narrative explores the thin, often blurred line between psychological distress and the intrusion of unseen, malevolent forces.
R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots): A Fantastic Melodrama in Three Acts and an Epilogue
Karel Čapek
A visionary drama that introduced the word "robot" to the world, this play imagines a future where synthetic workers replace humanity, only to find that their perfection comes at a haunting, inevitable cost.
Five Hundred Dollars
Alger, Horatio, Jr.
A quiet, diligent boy must navigate his family's poverty and the schemes of his wealthy, unprincipled relatives. Through integrity and unexpected travel, he seeks the truth about his father’s past and a long-buried injustice.
The Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne
A woman stands on a scaffold in colonial Boston, clutching an illegitimate child and wearing a scarlet letter ‘A’ stitched to her breast, marking her as an adulteress. She carries her shame in silence, unaware that the husband she left behind in Europe has returned, not to claim her, but to hunt the man who shares…
Ladies-In-Waiting
Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin
These are stories of women pausing on the threshold of marriage, caught between pride, independence, and the sudden, undeniable pull of the heart.
Stories of the Persian wars
Herodotus
The collision between the sprawling Persian Empire and the disparate Greek city-states defines this foundational work of history. It is a sweeping account of ambition, hubris, and the defense of independence against overwhelming odds.
The Trail of the Goldseekers: A Record of Travel in Prose and Verse
Hamlin Garland
HOOK A grueling journey through wild, untamed northern landscapes reveals the harsh realities and fleeting hopes of goldseekers chasing fortune in the far reaches of Alaska and the Yukon.
The Message
A. J. (Alec John) Dawson
The safety of a nation is not a matter of luck or gold, but of a quiet, unshakable resolve to perform one’s duty. When the spirit of a people fails, the collapse of their world is not far behind.
The Young Adventurer
Alger, Horatio, Jr.
This classic tale of pluck and persistence follows a hardworking boy who leaves his struggling family farm to seek his fortune in the California gold fields, surviving danger and treachery along the way.
A sailor's life under four sovereigns, Volume 3 (of 3)
Keppel, Henry, Sir
The final volume of a storied naval career captures the twilight of the age of sail and the transition into a globalized, steam-powered imperial era. It is a record of both high-seas command and the quiet, social rhythms of a gentleman’s retirement.
The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book I and II
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
As the crumbling of traditional religious and moral foundations leaves modern humanity adrift, these fragmented notes outline a radical, rigorous, and often ruthless attempt to forge new values from the ruins.
The Settlement of Wage Disputes
Herbert Feis
Wage disputes are not mere conflicts over pennies, but fundamental tests of industrial stability that require a systematic, principled approach to resolve effectively.
Cyrano de Bergerac
Edmond Rostand
A brilliant, sword-wielding poet hides a secret love behind his massive nose, only to find his own eloquent words used by a handsome rival to win the woman they both adore.
The Education of Henry Adams
Henry Adams
A man born into the heart of American political royalty navigates a rapidly accelerating world, searching for a modern education that the established systems of his time utterly fail to provide.
Happy-Thought Hall
F. C. (Francis Cowley) Burnand
The mind, left to its own devices, is a chaotic theater of small anxieties and sudden, fleeting inspirations. This chronicle of a winter retreat captures the absurdity of trying to organize a life—and a house—that refuses to cooperate.
History, Manners, and Customs of the North American Indians
Old Humphrey
A seasoned hunter shares the traditions, struggles, and vanishing ways of North American tribes with three young brothers in a series of intimate fireside conversations.
The Good Housekeeping Marriage Book
Unknown
Marriage is a complex, evolving labor that requires intentionality, emotional maturity, and a lifelong commitment to mutual growth. It is not merely a romantic destination, but a challenging, rewarding process of shared discovery.
A Little Maid of Massachusetts Colony
Alice Turner Curtis
The American Revolution is often remembered through the grand movements of armies, but this story finds its heart in the quiet, dangerous persistence of a young girl navigating the conflict’s ripples in coastal New England.
The Idler Magazine, Volume III, June 1893: An Illustrated Monthly
Various
A vibrant, turn-of-the-century collection of voices, this magazine captures the wit, anxieties, and curious diversions of late Victorian London through a blend of gritty realism and whimsical observation.
Letters of Pliny
the Younger Pliny
A Roman official’s private correspondence offers a vivid, unfiltered look at the daily anxieties, cultural obsessions, and administrative burdens of a man navigating the corridors of imperial power.
Life at Puget Sound: With Sketches of Travel in Washington Territory, British Columbia, Oregon and California
Caroline C. Leighton
The rugged, untamed beauty of the Pacific Northwest serves as the backdrop for this observant chronicle of life on the frontier, where nature’s grandeur dictates the rhythm of daily existence.
Phil Bradley's Mountain Boys
Silas K. Boone
The Adirondack wilderness serves as the backdrop for a summer of discovery, where four companions learn that true courage is forged in the face of unexpected dangers. They venture into the wild only to find that nature—and the secrets hidden within it—demands more than just camping skills.
Critical, Historical, and Miscellaneous Essays
Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron
These essays offer a panoramic view of the English past, written by a master of narrative history who treats the struggles of kings, poets, and parliamentarians as a vibrant, living drama.
The poetic Edda
Henry Adams Bellows
The dawn of the North begins here, where gods and heroes clash in a cycle of inexorable fate, burning vengeance, and profound, ancient wisdom.
Fables in Slang
George Ade
HOOK A satirical collection that strips the pretense from American life, using turn-of-the-century slang to turn moralizing tales into sharp, cynical observations.
The Iliad
Homer
The pride of a warrior and the wrath of a god collide on the dusty plains before Troy, where mortal lives are traded for eternal fame. This foundational epic explores the heavy cost of human ambition and the inescapable reach of destiny.
Select Masterpieces of Biblical Literature
Unknown
This collection presents foundational sacred texts through the lens of literary form, stripping away traditional chapter-and-verse formatting to reveal the inherent rhythm, drama, and structure of the original Hebrew writings. It treats the Bible not merely as a single book, but as a diverse library of oratory,…
The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault
Charles Perrault
HOOK These timeless tales weave dark enchantments and sharp lessons, transforming ancient folklore into elegant, enduring portraits of human folly, grace, and survival.
Oldtown Fireside Stories
Harriet Beecher Stowe
In the quiet, firelit corners of early New England, the art of storytelling served as the primary bridge between the long winter darkness and the warmth of communal memory. These tales capture the intersection of folklore, faith, and the daily struggles of a vanished world.
The Eugenic Marriage, Volume 2 (of 4): A Personal Guide to the New Science of Better Living and Better Babies
W. Grant (William Grant) Hague
This volume serves as a prescriptive manual for moral and physical hygiene, framing the health of the individual as a foundational duty to the future of the race. It provides specific, often stark, medical guidance intended to fortify the family unit against disease and vice.
On The Structure of Greek Tribal Society: An Essay
Hugh E. (Hugh Exton) Seebohm
A scholarly examination of how ancient Greek social structures, particularly the family and its land, evolved from deeper, universal tribal roots.
On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason, and On the Will in Nature: Two Essays (revised edition)
Arthur Schopenhauer
These two foundational philosophical inquiries argue that the world is a manifestation of an underlying, irrational "Will," asserting that our perceptions are structured by necessity rather than free choice.
Oscar Wilde, His Life and Confessions. Volume 2 (of 2)
Frank Harris
A man who once lived to be watched now lives to be forgotten, tracing the wreckage of a brilliant life through the haze of exile and the shadow of his own ruin.
How to Write Letters (Formerly The Book of Letters): A Complete Guide to Correct Business and Personal Correspondence
Mary Owens Crowther
A comprehensive manual for the early twentieth century, this guide demystifies the art of written communication. It offers precise, elegant protocols for everything from formal wedding invitations to the complexities of commercial contracts.
Pearls of Thought
Maturin M. (Maturin Murray) Ballou
This collection offers a treasury of distilled wisdom, gathering centuries of observation into a single, accessible volume. It serves as a thoughtful companion for those who seek to examine life through the lenses of history’s keenest minds.